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Gudauri

I have been documenting Soviet mosaics in Georgia for past several months. These interesting pieces of work are disappearing due to various reasons – the glass pieces fall apart, buildings are demolished, etc. However I think their importance as a depiction of Soviet history and architecture is huge and they should be documented and preserved if possible.

Most of these mosaics are from Tbilisi – the capital of Georgia but some of them are from other parts of the country as well. Buildings with these artworks range from a bottle opener factory to bus stations and local tourist sights.

According to various local architects most of the Georgian mosaics are made from glass pieces that were usually brought from Moscow to brighten up public spaces. In past mosaics were associated with religion – temples and spiritual sights had colorful walls that were depicting either humans or phenomenons, however in USSR religion was not the main theme.

In 1930’s mosaics became one of the key elements of the Moscow subway system and soon after they became a symbol of Soviet art.

Images on these mosaics range from astronauts and workers to famous Georgian writers or even some abstract shapes.

So here they are:

Click on images to view them in a larger format.

1. Laguna Vere – the biggest outdoor pool of Tbilisi that supports various types of swimming sports including water polo, now closed.(more…)

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has released a detailed data about foreign visitors to Georgia. Tourists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia are leading the list and only 5% of visitors are from the EU. According to MIA, 1,793,449 foreign arrivals have been recorded in January-August, 2011 (2,031,695 people traveled to Georgia in 2010). Most of them were from Azerbaijan – 456,282, 455,611 from Turkey, 448,374 from Armenia and 176,090 from Russia.

After 2 months of no snow on Georgia’s ski resorts, it finally began to fall in the end of January, 2011. According to local sources the number of tourists in Georgia’s ski resort Gudauri, which is at elevation of 2,200 meters, has significantly increased. The snow is 20 cm high which is enough for skiing.

Locals say that most of the tourists are foreigners from Lithuania, Estonia, Netherlands, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and other countries. Tourists say they have heard about Gudauri from commercials.

According to visitors prices are convenient. Rope-way ticket costs start from 21 GEL ($11) for elderly and 15 GEL ($8) for children. For a complete skiing set person should pay 30 GEL ($17). Those who cannot ski may take a lesson from a trainer which will cost them 30 GEL ($17) per day.

Prices in family-owned hotels start from 50 GEL ($28), room for two in an average hotel costs $100. Tourists say prices are lower than in hotels in Tbilisi.